Questions from a former Catholic thinking about returning

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Unique_name

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New here. 🙋

I wanted some (name removed by moderator)ut on a few things.
Formerly Catholic.
Currently non-denominational (if anything) Christian.
For the last week, I have had this drawing sensation to come back to the Church.
I still have a number of concerns with various teachings of the Catholic faith. These are not in order of importance, just as they pop into my head. If you would be so kind as to answer, would you do me a favor and, in the answer, please tell me where you personally would rank the importance of an individuals beliefs on the topic as relates to their ability to be a practicing Catholic in fellowship with the church?

Also please note I tend to come across as harsh on text, but that is not my intention. I am not here for argument, I am here for answers, but I cannot get satisfactory answers if I do not ask satisfactory (to me, anyways) questions.
Nothing but good will here!
  1. Why are priests called “Father” when Christ said to call no one on Earth Father, as we have one Father in heaven? The answer I’ve always gotten for this was something along the lines of, “Well Jesus also said not to call anyone Teacher or Rabbi, and people do that, so obviously there was more to it than that.” Okay, so because we also call people Teacher that means it’s okay?
  2. I have heard many answers for why the church teaches that Mary was without sin, and I’ve looked it up in depth on other Catholic apologetics websites. I just don’t buy it. I do believe that she was graced and blessed more than any other human on Earth, and quite possibly she sinned less than any other person on Earth save Christ, but I don’t buy that she was sinless. Other than that, I love Mary. Jesus loves His mom, so do I. Can this be reconciled?
  3. I don’t mean to be offensive, but out of the large number of various churches I’ve been to, Catholics ranked as the worst in terms of fellowship. I’m one of those people who desperately rely on encouragement and accountability in my life as I do my best to live in accordance with the truth of the gospel, and no Catholic parish I’ve been to has even attempted to do so. This is a major issue for me.
  4. I’m not high church. I’ve been to Catholic churches, Presbyterian churches, non-denominational churches, you name it. I am just not a “smells and bells” type. I’m assuming that this is a minor one, and as I’ve reasoned out on my own, if the Church is the true Church, it doesn’t matter whether I’m high church or not. I guess this was more of just a ramble than a question.
  5. Can someone explain to this cynic how sacramentals actually pass on blessings? How holy water actually makes things Holy? Because my understanding is that holiness is walking in accordance with the truth of God and who He is and what He says, and water just doesn’t do those things.
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Why do we need to confess to a priest? During the time I’ve been a Protestant, I’ve been joyfully confessing my sins to God. Wouldn’t a Catholic say that, were I to return to the Church, I’d need to go and confess it all over to a priest? Or am I mistaken here? If the former is correct, why? Did God not forgive me when I came to Him in the name of Jesus and asked for forgiveness?
 
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I’m confused what is non denominational even mean?
Since the Catholic Church predates denominations by 1500 years I personally always viewed myself as non denominational.
 
I’ve always taken it to mean that it does not subscribe to any particular denomination. I don’t call myself a Lutheran or a Presbyterian or an Anglican or a Baptist.
 
I can’t adequately answer your questions but my observation is you are nitpicking. You are picking a spouse in effect Like a future spouse, the Church is very human and imperfect and you should focus on the important things.
 
I don’t mean to nitpick, but I don’t want to be insincere if I return to the church. I want to be sure that it is the right thing, but I need answers to my questions first.
Thank you for your response, and blessings.
 
There are plenty of examples of people coming into the church with the same questions.

When I began to learn the catholic belief in the Eucharist I tried to go to evangelical churches but I couldn’t cause the issue of communion kept metaphorically slapping me in the face. I heard it said from the pulpit that Jesus said “this is a symbol of my body”. When my wife called and asked the pastor he was like ok you’re right Jesus didn’t say that. Also heard from another pastor. “There is nothing magical or mystical about receiving this symbol.” Also at another service people were eating donuts and drinking coffee at the same service as communion. I knew in my heart this was not right. It took me awhile to begin to understand some of the things you ask about. After realizing that the teaching of the Eucharist is true then the other truth gradually began to sink in. In nondenominational Christianity there are plenty of things that I’m sure you took on faith even as you didn’t understand because you truly believed that Jesus had died for you and cane into your heart to save you. There is a lot more to the gospel of John than 3:16. Also the book of Revelation really begins to open up in the Catholic perspective. The Catholic Church adopted the books of the Bible because they confirmed the faith that had been handed down to the church from the apostles. Jesus gave us the Church before the Bible the Church gave us the Bible by the authority that Jesus gave the Church. In Paul’s letters to Timothy we learn that the Church is the pillar and foundation of truth.
 
Unique_name said:
I don’t mean to nitpick, but I don’t want to be insincere if I return to the church. I want to be sure that it is the right thing, but I need answers to my questions first.
Thank you for your response, and blessings.
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Here’s how I address similar questions in my mind. The Church is several thousand years old and much of it’s customs or dogma was established during the middle ages, a time when I expect the Church needed to play a very parental role, when it was best to be very black and white. This is appropriate to the maturity of a child. Much of that black/white thinking still survives today but I don’t feel it’s significant. The Church still needs to meet the black/white needs of a child as well as the ‘shades of grey’ that adults perceive…

Mary is dead but is very symbolic as a role model etc. Mary’s sins are forgiven and I could care less if everyone would agree she never committed even a venial sin.

I think the habit of confessing to a Priest introduced a discipline and greater reflection/accountability than just bowing your head and asking God for forgiveness. I believe the Church teaches a Priest can absolve you of your sins, but not that it is the only means.

Fellowship is an important issue, and I agree an area where the Church can do better. Knights of Columbus and other groups increase the available fellowship.
 
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Jesus told his disciples that whoever sins you forgive are forgiven and whoever sins you retain are retained. So either each Christian can forgive sins or Jesus gave this sacramental duty to the apostles to be handed down apostalically through the priesthood but clearly Jesus gives this power.
 
ok, will do my best
  1. if we are not to call anyone father and take that literally, then that includes our biological fathers, the same would also apply to the teacher and rabbi examples you gave. there are other examples in the bible of people being called father, so it would be more of a case of Jesus using hyperbolic language. the surrounding was him condemning the attitudes of the scribes and Pharisees.
  2. the main arguments for this is that Mary was the ark of the new covenant, if you remember what the ark of the covenant was like in the old testament, than it makes sense in relation. if you have already read the main arguments though, I won’t retype all of it here. but I guess just think on it and ask God to guide you, what makes it difficult for you to believe that she could be sinless?
  3. catholic parishes with good fellowship do exist, I have personally never had the problem you are describing, but I have heard it countless of times, maybe it depends on the area, or maybe some parishes just don’t knowhow to do it properly. whatever parish you look in to, perhaps it is something you could help them out with, just an idea
  4. I am sure you will be able to find a parish with a worship style that fits you, however, mass is not primarily for our entertainment
  5. I wouldn’t say that sacramentals are “made holy” in the same way as a person, it’s more that they are blessed and dedicated to God as instruments through which he can convey his grace if he so chooses.
  6. yes, you will need to go to confession with a priest, short answer, is that Jesus in scripture, said that this is how we should do it, it’s the method he has chosen ordinarily to dispense his forgiveness, it’s easy for us to convince ourselves that we have confessed everything in our own minds and that we are forgiven, but it’s a very differenc experience to say it out loud to someone, , certainly, we can confess directly to God as well, we are encouraged to perform an examination of conscience daily
anyways, I hope that helps somewhat, I am not an apologist or a theologian by any means, God bless you on your journey and I will pray for you
 
  1. It has to do with the people Jesus was speaking to. They had been thinking too highly of their teachers and forgetting God. So, Jesus used hyperbole, or an exaggeration to make a point. He was like, fine, call no man father if you cannot do it without thinking they are really great and powerful.
  2. If you were Joseph, Mary’s protector, would you dare try to get busy with Mary, with the Son of God in the room? Joseph knew she was a consecrated virgin. She was not his to have. Too often we try to understand biblical times and culture by our own modern lifestyles.
  3. We rank first in terms of the real presence of Jesus. Non-Ds have to make up for what they do not have by offering all this other stuff. I have seen it all because I’ve been there.
  4. Confession was given to us by God, through Jesus. In John 20, Jesus said, “As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” Then he breathed on them and said, “receive the holy Spirit. Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them and whose sins you retain are retained.” This was given to the apostles and through apostolic succession it goes all the way to today’s priests.
You have faith that your sins have been forgiven when you pray directly to God, but you know your sins have been forgiven when a priest who is acting in the person of Christ tells you that you are absolved of your sins. It is an extremely beautiful, and necessary sacrament.
 
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GladTidings said:
If you were Joseph, Mary’s protector , would you dare try to get busy with Mary, with the Son of God in the room? Joseph knew she was a consecrated virgin. She was not his to have. Too often we try to understand biblical times and culture by our own modern lifestyles.
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She is talking about the Immaculate Conception, not Mary’s perpetual virginity.
 
Unique_name said:
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2. I have heard many answers for why the church teaches that Mary was without sin, and I’ve looked it up in depth on other Catholic apologetics websites. I just don’t buy it. I do believe that she was graced and blessed more than any other human on Earth, and quite possibly she sinned less than any other person on Earth save Christ, but I don’t buy that she was sinless. Other than that, I love Mary. Jesus loves His mom, so do I. Can this be reconciled?
…
Wouldn’t a Catholic say that, were I to return to the Church, I’d need to go and confess it all over to a priest? …
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Welcome! The Marian dogmas are dogmas of faith that are to be given the assent of faith. A person does not have to understand the details of the mystery to accept them. The Marian dogmas are:
  1. Christ was truly generated and born of a daughter of Adam, the Virgin Mary.
  2. Mary is truly the Mother of God.
  3. Mary was conceived without stain of Original sin.
  4. Mary was conceived by the Holy Ghost without the co-operation of man.
  5. Mary bore her Son without any violation of her virginal integrity.
  6. Also after the Birth of Jesus Mary remained a Virgin.
  7. Mary was a Virgin before, during, and after the Birth of Jesus Christ.
  8. Mary was assumed body and soul into Heaven.
Any mortal sin committed since baptism, is to be confessed in individual confession, in number and kind, if remembered, in order to receive absolution.

Additional notes 2009-06-26:

From Ludwig Ott, Fundamentals of Catholic Dogma, p. 202:
From her conception Mary was free from all motions of concupiscence. (Sent. communis.)

Freedom from [the stain of] original sin does not necessarily involve freedom from all defects which came into the world as a punishment for sin. Mary, like Christ Himself, was subject to the general human defects, in so far as these involve no moral imperfection. Concupiscence cannot be reckoned among these since it excites a person to commit acts which are materially contrary to God’s Law, even where, through lack of assent, they are not formal sins. It would be incompatible with Mary’s fullness of grace and her perfect purity and immaculate state to be subject to motions of inordinate desire.
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Catechism
493 The Fathers of the Eastern tradition call the Mother of God “the All-Holy” ( Panagia ), and celebrate her as “free from any stain of sin, as though fashioned by the Holy Spirit and formed as a new creature”.138 By the grace of God Mary remained free of every personal sin her whole life long.

138 Lumen Gentium 56.
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Welcome. I am not going to address your five points, because there are others who can do it so much better than I. I am a revert. I was as much pushed away from evangelical Christianity as I was drawn back to Catholicism. Now understand, I was part of some really great evangelical churches, and I know many evangelical Protestants who have an amazing faith. So it’s not this black or white thing with me.

What pushed me away from evangelicalism was how Pastor-centered the churches often are, and how subject many are to theology fads. And I don’t see how evangelicalism could have existed before the invention of the printing press. And there is an implicit assumption that real Christianity died for some 1000 or 1200 or 1400 years. I can’t accept that God would allow that to happen. And the rampant divisions between believers in evangelicalism and Protestantism also just seems like it cant possibly be what God could have ever wanted.

The Legion of divisions in evangelicalism led me to think about the issue of authority. Did God give authority to one church, to prevent exactly this kind of disunity?

Even if you don’t end up coming back, I urge you to deeply investigate what the Catholic Church REALLY teaches, and come to see that belonging to this church is a true and valid means of growing in holiness. A warning - once you get past the Protestant spin on certain Catholic beliefs, you may find the Catholic view quite compelling…! You might try Scott Hahn’s book Rome Sweet Home. God bless you.
 
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I’m not sure what you mean, but I didn’t intend anything.
 
VeryBlessed said:
Even if you don’t end up coming back, I urge you to deeply investigate what the Catholic Church REALLY teaches, and come to see that belonging to this church is a true and valid means of growing in holiness. A warning - once you get past the Protestant spin on certain Catholic beliefs, you may find the Catholic view quite compelling…! You might try Scott Hahn’s book Rome Sweet Home. God bless you.
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Surprisingly, many Protestants would burn me at the stake for just how sympathetic I am with Catholics. I’ve had some even go as far as to question whether or not I am even really a Christian because of how much I agree with concerning Catholic teaching. On the other hand, I have friends who have come to me with questions about if something they heard really was what the Catholic Church teaches. (“Does the Catholic Church really teach that works grant us salvation?”)

I guess you could say I’m on the doorstep but not stepping in at this point.
 
Oh goodness, me too. My preteen daughter lost a lifelong friend because her Mom went ballistic over our return to the church. So wrong! I was never anti-Catholic in my evangelical days. I had seen too much good in the Catholic church to have the luxury of being able to make a blanket condemnation of the whole system. There is much I really loved about my evangelical experiences, but I really do think the fullness of the Christian faith is in the Catholic Church.
 
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